Recently, technologies creating a three-dimensional model of an object from a plurality of images taken from a plurality of positions and/or orientations have been developed. In detail, such technologies generally generate silhouettes from photographed images, create the geometry of the three-dimensional model by using the silhouettes, generate textures from photographed images, and set the generated textures on each polygon of the geometry.
Further, technologies to display such three-dimensional models in an Internet browser and so on and to make necessary rotations so as to make it possible to observe the models have also been developed. Using these technologies, to make three-dimensional models observable through the internet browser, it becomes possible for electronic commerce (E-Commerce) customers to observe merchandise as three-dimensional objects. Thus, it is expected that such three-dimensional object modeling technologies will greatly contribute to the advancement of E-Commerce businesses.
However, it is essential to obtain not only images of the object obtained from longitudinally different angles but also images obtained from vertically (latitudinally) different angles, for example bottom and top images, of the object for creating the three-dimensional model having high quality geometry and high quality texture. Accordingly, it is ordinarily necessary for the user to prepare a studio for photographing the objects to be three-dimensionally modeled and make various arrangements for the photography, for example to repeatedly photograph the object many times. Furthermore, the users have to set lighting conditions and appropriate backgrounds for each of the photographs from various positions and orientations, so as to be able to take textures and silhouettes effectively.
These photographing operations carried out by the users are actually time-consuming. Further, considering operations of longitudinally changing relative positions between a camera and the object to be modeled and operations of setting a camera at a plurality of different latitudinal positions (angles), it necessarily gives users a significantly large workload in order to create three-dimensional object models.
In addition to these, ideal positions for photographing the object are different in dependence on the size of the object. This causes further workload for the user to create two or more three-dimensional object models having different sizes. Namely, the users have to manually change setting of the camera and the object for each object. Accordingly, it has been very difficult to effectively create many three-dimensional object models.
By not only photographing lateral images but also top and bottom images of the object, it would be possible to create a three-dimensional model observable from all orientations. However, to do so, it would be necessary for a user to invert the object, since the bottom of the object sitting on the object-setting surface is invisible. Inverting the object would also cause another adjustment between the image of the bottom and other pre-photographed images to be necessary since focal lengths for photographing the bottom is normally slightly different from ones for photographing other images. A user would have to adjust size of these images by using computer programs increasing workload of the user.
Accordingly, though such technologies are very useful and can contribute industrial progress, users may be restricted as ones who have some photographing skill and users need significant time to photograph the object for creating a three-dimensional object model. In this respect, these technologies have something to be improved.